Valentina Magaletti & Yves Chaudouet Batterie Fragile

London based Valentina Magaletti, is a composer, producer and percussionist experimenting with new materials and sounds. She is one of the most prominent musicians of the wide experimental world. The prolific drummer collaborates with many musicians and releases albums in all musical directions (from noise to jazz by way of dub...). She was part of the acclaimed duo Tomaga until the tragic passing of Tom Relleen in 2020. Lately Valentina Magaletti collaborates with Joao Pais Filipe, Lafawndah, Marlene Ribeiro, Julian Sartorius among many others and she is part of bands like Vanishing Twin, Better Corners, Holy Tongue, Uuuu, Avvitagalli, Moin... She released 3 solo albums, La Tempesta Colorata (A Colourful Storm, 2022), A Queer Anthology Of Drums (Takuroku/Cafe Oto, 2020) and Valentina Plays The Batterie Fragile (Un je-ne-sais-quoi, 2017).

The Batterie fragile is a sculpture conceived by artist Yves Chaudouët. A drum-kit made out of porcelain.

Yves Chaudouët is a French visual artist. His first interest was painting. From the 1990s, he began to experiment with other art forms such as filmmaking, installation, theater and novels.

This is the second installment of recording on that amazing drum kit. The first recording (2017) was a testimony of the 1st meeting between Valentina and the drumkit during a live experience in Tours (Fr) at le Musée des Beaux-Arts during the Super Flux Festival. It was a raw recording (fragile itself) picking up a very quick meeting and two magical improvisations. It naturally led Yves Chaudouët to build another Batterie fragile with few improvements (as if the 1st one were a prototype) and quickly to plan to record another album.

Recorded in 2021 at Impersonal studio in Rennes (fr) with Thomas Poli on a magnificent analog console Studer 928, edited and mixed in 2022 at Abbey Road studio (uk) by Valentina Magaletti and Leon Marks, this outstanding recording, composed and performed by Valentina Magaletti on an unlikely sounding instrument is a poetic and unique experience. Valentina took time to explore all the sounding possibilities of the drums, using different kinds of sticks, wire brushes and rubber beaters. The recordings have been assembled in a collage-style approach dear to her and result in two otherworldly tracks that reveal a few secrets of the mysterious drum kit through Valentina Magaletti’s fantastic play and delicate versatility.

To create this new album, Magaletti says, “I applied wood and metal and rubber to the porcelain. My starting point is always textural, and I’m very interested and enchanted by friction.”

An important work in the career of one of the best drummers and composers of her time, which Un je-ne-sais-quoi is proud to share with you.